Europe

The UK economy grew 0.6% in the three months to March 2026, supported mainly by a strong expansion in services, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Thursday. Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.6% in the first quarter compared with the three months to December 2025, after …

Dr, Shehab Al-Makahleh When a U.S. president walks into Beijing and leaves without mentioning Taiwan, the silence speaks louder than any communiqué. The reported visit of Donald Trump to China—culminating in a closed-door meeting with Xi Jinping—is not just another episode in great-power diplomacy. It is a signal that the architecture …

Harjeet Johal Like a petulant phantom, the theme of Europe has haunted British general elections for decades. Remember 1992 and the “No, No, No!” chant and other Maastricht machinations of the then-departed prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, echoing around John Major’s campaign? Those chants ended up in the heavy …

The core reason is straightforward: the ruling coalition wants to control the timing and narrative of its own collapse, rather than allow the opposition to claim it brought the government down. What is unfolding inside Israel is not simply a parliamentary procedure. It is a calculated political maneuver …

Amid a dense cluster of contentious files—foremost among them Iran—Donald Trump arrived in China on Wednesday ahead of a summit with Xi Jinping, in a visit shaped by escalating trade tensions and intensifying geopolitical crises, including the war involving Iran and the fallout from disruptions in the Strait …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh On the eve of his arrival in Beijing, Donald Trump chose a phrase that was deceptively simple: “I respect Xi, and I hope he respects me.” Beneath that carefully calibrated diplomatic phrase lies a far more consequential reality: this is not a courtesy visit between …

Britain’s political pundits are enjoying themselves commenting on the shock results of municipal elections which have seen the governing Labour Party’s candidates humiliated. More than 1,000 of Sir Keir Starmer’s men and women running local councils across the country have been voted out of office. Two big winners The …

Sana Kan The continued clashes and drone strikes reported by Ukraine despite a United States brokered ceasefire reveal the deep structural difficulties facing diplomatic efforts to end the Russia Ukraine war. Although both Moscow and Kyiv formally agreed to a temporary ceasefire between May 9 and May 11, …

Lisdey Espinoza Pedraza By the time the results boards cleared in the early hours of 8 May 2026, the verdict was impossible to soften. Reform UK had seized over 1,400 council seats across England, taken control of 13 local authorities, and planted its flag in places that had …